, 1887-06-11

Leo Hartman, the Nihilist, who was
charged with killing Alexander II, Of All the
Russias, on whose head the Russian govern
ment put q great price, who was imprisoned
by France at the instance of Russia. who was
shielded by England and afterwards came
near being handed over to Russian vengeance
by the thon secretary of state, James G.
Elaine, who las been for years under the sur
VIGILANCE OF Russian detectives, was found a
few days ago by a reporter In a rather smnl
room Of an old fashioned house scarcely a
stones throw from The World office.
Seated In Hnrtinan's workshop, surrounded
by evidences of his genius, it seemed almost
Incredible that tho man telling the story of his
country's wrongs could be he who was the
central figure of the civilized world a few
years age
Americans, with the utmost liberty OF
press, speech and ns~semblage, and with a free
ballot, cannot possibly conceive of the con-
dition of Russia to-day" said Leo Hartman,
@They cannot imagine how the will OF one
man, however distorted bis mind, can DO the
law, to be executed by every official, who
represents only that will. By the greatest
stretch of the Imagination Americans cannot
understand how it can be a capital ofrense to
~critictse the words or acts OF a car. Yet It
is so in Russia, where men are sent to Siberia
for talking unexpectedly to a policeman"
Ahd NhhlOb 10 pOoSIDlt- Iod tAhBRoT-
atingI" exclaimed the reporter.
at is true, every word. l have hard peo-
pie here denouncet the police; but they do not
know what police tyranny means. In Russia
tho municipalities do not appoint the police.
1t Is the car. They are his officers, and arc
above the law, owing to no one an accoun.
but him. These are the open police, and al
though they are tyrants and to be dreaded
they nre not to be compared to tile political
detectives and gems d'armes of the ministry
OF the interior.
They were known at one time as the third
section of the imperial chancellory. The
name became such a terror, even In that
country of terrorism, that the car was
forced to pretend to abolish 1t. 1t still exias
as a special department of the interior.
Those who compose 1t are independent of all
law. Without form OF law they have power
to search any house and arrest all its inmates
on suspicion. Those arrested never know on
what charge they are held. They have no
trial, but are sent 10 Siberia, to prison or to
tue scaffold, as may seem best to the depart
ment. There is no app al possible, for no
court has any jurisdiction over a political. ;
II a person is sent TO Siberia he is an admin
istrutive exile and can never return except
by consent of the third section. As l said, it
Is only necessary to be suspected in order to
be arrested, and IL the name of another per-
son is found on the suspect he or she too must
suffer-
But are there no courts In Russia9"
Certainly there are, and n jury system,
too; but they are for criminals-murderers,
thieves, etc. l may say, In passing, that
there ~ no capital punishment in Russia ex-
cept for political ofTenses. In the territorial
prison iE which 1 spent nine months, in
Ekaterinodar, there were men who bad COM
mitted from ten to thirty murders and high
way robberies. They were exiled, while a
landlord, owning thousands of acres of land,
was hanged because he gave money to propa-
gate republicanism. That was before the
terrorist movement began. When a promi-
nent man is arrested, a noblemnn or IN of
fetal, for a political offense, and it cannot be
hidden, he is taken before a court. But what
a COURT For such cases the judges are APP
pointed by the ministry OF justice or war.
There is no jury. The accused is not per-
mitted to have a lawyer, except, sometimes,
an army officer is detailed for that duty by
the ministry. l need not say that l never
knew or heard Of a case In which a prisoner
before such a court ever regained his free
dom To be even suspected is to be doomed
For IL the judge could not find the p isoner
guilty the third section exiled him
"These mel of whom you speak, l mean
the prisoners, are they all NihilistsT"
nv DN any InehuS. AS 1 LOlu you n man
has only to express an opinion contrary to
that of a policeman, q detective or some off,
cial to secure his arrest and exile. What do
you think of its being an offense, punishable
with exile. to read any work written by Her
bert Spencer, Professor Huxley, Darwin,
John Stuart Mills 'Utilitarianism,' 'Emanci-
patton of Women or Political Economy,
Robert Owens Moral Government or such
worksi Those sent to Siberin are not Mill
lists or Terrorists. The Terrorists are always
executed or die in prison."
"Are the Nihilists very numerous now In
Russia3"
hant than when l was In Russia. You
noticed, probably, that those arrested on the
last attempt to execute the car offered no re-
sistance nor did they try to hide their pur-
pose. But in Russia they are not called Mill
~ists-they belong to the party NJ the VIII OF
the People, and the Extremists are known as
Active Terrorist Not one OF my coadju-
tors is alive to-day; but as fast as they fall
their places nre flled by Others. In the party
theru are representatives OF every class in the
community and every grade Of official, from
the priest and noble to the peasant. Origin
ally the party believed merely in propagating
the necessity for a republican form of
government, and but for the terrorism of the
car IL would have remained so until to-day.
We ask that a national assembly be called to
decide the form Of government for Russia.
For agitating this question our people were
banged or incarcerated in central prisons,
which was worse. These central prisons are
under the direct control OF the central govern
ment and distinct from territorial prisons.
The walls OF the cells are a yard
wide, with vaulted crihngs The floors
nre thickly matted, so are the corridors out
side. Light is admitted from a small win
dow in the roof. Food is supplied on a sliding
table from the outside, A hole the size OF
q dollar in the massive door Of the cell per-
mits the jailer to see what the prisoner is
doing, without himself being observed. One
never knows when that eye is on him. Iu-
tense silence Ieigns- The prisoner has moth.
ing to occupy linn but his thoughts. lie
never sees the face of man. He Is in a living
tomb, Is It any wonder that in about six
months a mans mind gives way, or that in
two years he dies q raving maniaci Such has
been the fate OF men and women imprisoned
because they believed in a form OF govern.
ment such as you have In America
Does that state of affairs exist nowT'
at is OF to-day am speaking. / occasion.
ally receive letters from my friends in Lon.
don, Paris or Geneva, who hear directly from
| Russia, md they tell me some of these thinga